Maurizio Cotta

With Brexit the EU seemed bound to face an existential crisis. The book discusses the weaknesses but also the stremgths of the European Union and what needs to be done to provide a more assured future for this extrordinary political creation

The 2018 elections in Italy were a great success for populist parties. It was less easy to form a government as previous coalition patterns had shattered. A foirst coalition formula between Five Sytars Movement and the League of Salvini did not last for long and a new government was formed after nearly a year. The new coalition was wowever quite heterogeneous.

The economic debate on the determinants and the characteristics of local development in Italy has stressed the dualistic nature of this process (Lutz, 1962) both in terms of territorial heterogeneity (with a developed and rich North and a poor South with low growth rates) and also firm size heterogeneity (the co-existence of big enterprises, the most of them publicly owned, and small firms, normally seen as residual realities).

In the spring of 2004, following the latest enlargement of the European Union (EU), democratic parliamentary elections have taken place, on the same day in twenty-five European countries, to elect representatives to the European Parliament. We can rightly consider this date, whatever the immediate practical effects of these elections, a crucial symbolic point in the political development of Europe.

1. Parliamentary Representatives from Early Democratization to the Age of Consolidated Democracy: National Variations and International Convergence in a Long-term Perspective Maurizio Cotta and Heinrich Best 1.1. A long-term perspective on the democratization of Europe: political representation and the great change of European societies 1.2. Research bases 1.3. Theoretical perspectives 1.4. Previous findings: variations and common trends in the long-term change of European parliamentary recruitment and careers 1.5.

■ Sintesi 15 1. La nozione di sistema politico 17 1.1. Definizioni 17 1.2. La «scoperta» del sistema politico nelle scienze sociali 18 1.3. Elementi ed esiti del sistema polìtico: Almond e Powell 20 2. Sistemi politici e scienza politica. Gli approcci contemporanei 22 2.1. Sviluppi recenti nell'analisi dei sistemi politici comparati 22 2.2. Un concetto ancora utile 23

En una primera aproximación se advierte que la mayor parte de los sistemas políticos contemporáneos revela la presencia de una institución que, aunque denominada de forma diferente según los países (Congreso, Parlamento, Asamblea Nacional, Estados Generales, Consejo, etc.) se ha venido definiendo normalmente como parlamento'. La ausencia total de un parlamento es hoy más excepcional que su presencia.

This article aims at testing empirically the relevance of the State/civil society dichotomy commonly used by political theorists through the question of the specific weight ofMPs having a public sector background in Europe. It uses the DATACUBE data set in order to show that such an opposition is only relative because of the specific weight of the public sector in the parliamentary elite considered in a long-term perspective. The article focuses on the dynamics of this relevance and introduces nuances regarding variations across ...

In this article, the main contents of this special issue are introduced. In particular, we introduce a definition of the concept of European citizenship system (ECS). Then, we move to a discussion of the national elites in four South European countries—Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain—and examine their views about Europe. Finally, we illustrate how, through the use of original data, the other articles will analyse the views that guide these national elites' construction of the ECS, with the purpose of explaining variations within and across ...

The main aim of this article is to show to what extent it is possible to talk about the South European member states as a homogeneous region with respect to the topics of European citizenship addressed in this special issue. In particular, we will address this problem by exploring both the level of homogeneity of the attitudes developed by national elites within this area, and the level of distinctiveness of such attitudes compared with the pan-European trend.

Ministers are a rather special group within the larger body of the politicians. They are the politicians who have to carry the political responsibility for the specialized policy functions that relatively developed polities such as modern states are expected to perform. Because of this ...

The article discusses the consequences for the European political system, and more specifically for its Elites, of the great recession of the years after 2008. After having defined the concept of European Elites System (EES) and specified its main components, the article analyses the differential impact of the crisis upon the different elite components. A special attention is paid to the difference between those European elite groups (domestic elites and members of the European Council and of the Council of the European Union), which are directly or indirectly accountable to national electorates and the other elite groups (such as the components of the Commission and of the ECB) who are much more protected against popular protest and dissatisfaction. This has produced a different degree of vulnerability and instability across these groups, but also important differences in the responses they have given to the problems arising from the crisis. These consequences are then analysed from the point of view of the democratic quality of the Union.

European identity: from the world of ideas to that of political organisations. Is there a European identity? which are the features of this phenomenon ? how is this identity produced and which are its consequences? As it is well known the topic of identity has played a major role within the framework of national states. With the development of the national perspective in the definition of modern polities, a shared identity came to be seen as an obvious and strong complement of nationhood. Nations are normally supposed to have their specific and unique identity (Gellner 1983), a set of elements (material and immaterial) which define positively what is a nation and " wo we are ". These elements concur also negatively to differentiate a nation (and " us ") from other nations (and " they "). It is sometimes difficult to establish to what extent the positive or the negative element have prevailed in the definition of national identities. This may depend also from the historical contingencies of nation building: it is well known to what extent a specific " other " (the big European powers for Switzerland, the Germans for the French, or the Austrian for the Italians in the XIX century) has in many cases played a catalysing role in overcoming internally conflicting identities and defining an embracing political identity. We know too well how much this has been a hot theme and what amount of political and cultural energies have been mobilised in the nation building processes to shape this component of nationhood. In the process of identity building symbols and materials of different types – from flags and national anthems to literary pieces, from geographical places with historical connections, to monuments, heroes, religious themes, special acts, etc. – have been emphasized to activate the identity feelings of the population. The result (with variable intensity) is the sharing of a diffuse we-feeling by large populations. Aside from the national realm, identity feelings are often attached to other sub-national territorial entities, such as regions and cities, or to non-territorial communities, such as religious, linguistic, ethnic groups, sport clubs, etc… In most cases such different identity feelings may coexist without great problems with national identities: they simply affect separate dimensions of social life. In other cases however they can become politically mobilized and compete more or less vigorously with national identities. Identities that are broader than the national one can also exist. For instance in the age of colonial imperialism the " white man " identity obviously played some role in shaping attitudes and solidarities in the colonial countries. During the Cold War the antagonism with the Soviet empire fuelled in the " Atlantic camp " a strong " Western " identity (Bonnet 2004) (but the idea of the West existed also before and played for instance an important role in the cultural debate in Russia during much of the XIX century). The idea of a European identity is not new and has recurrently surfaced in the intellectual discourse to compare this region of the world with other regions– Asia in particular. From Greek times to the more recent writings of authors, such as Enea Silvio Piccolomini, Machiavelli and Montesquieu, till Wittfogel (1957), the idea that Europe (European states, people) is different from Asia (from Asian countries and peoples) has often been associated to the contrast between freedom or rule of law and despotism. The idea of a common European identity has offered also the basis for political proposals of integration of the European states from the Abbé de Saint Pierre to Mazzini, to Coudenhove-Kalergi and his Pan-Europa movement. European identity has become a much more concrete topic after the Second World War when projects of a supranational organisation of European states began to circulate with greater intensity in academic and political circles, and even more when new international/supranational organisations were built bringing together some European states. The Council of Europe (1949), the European Coal and Steel Community (1951) and then the European Economic Community (1956) were the first significant international bodies resulting from this movement. At the same time however the division of Europe in two political-military blocks generated a major divide between two Europe: Western and Eastern.

This book explores the mechanisms of political representation and accountability in the European political system, against the backdrop of multiple crises in recent years in the economic, financial, security and immigration fields, which have triggered strong tensions and centrifugal drives inside the EU and among its Member states.

Exploiting a rich set of new ad hoc collected data covering elite and public opinion orientations and party positions, it investigates how the current politicization of European issues and the asymmetries among member states can challenge the sustainability of the European Union. It examines how existing policy tools were found largely unable to neutralize promptly the negative effects of these crises on the populations, economies and security of the Union and how this suggests the need to reconsider overarching theoretical frameworks and a more in-depth analysis of some crucial mechanisms of the European political system and to go beyond some of the dominant scholarly debates of the past decades.

The Handbook provides a broad coverage of the most important themes in the field of political representation. Theoretical debates, institutional forms and real life implementations of representation both in democratic and non-democratic regimes are widely discussed with the help of some of the leading scholars in the field.

In the spring of 2004, following the latest enlargement of the European Union (EU), democratic parliamentary elections have taken place, on the same day in twenty-five European countries, to elect representatives to the European Parliament. We can rightly consider this date, whatever the immediate practical effects of these elections, a crucial symbolic point in the political development of Europe. This point in time provides us with a challenging perspective over the approximately 150 years of European history that have ...

Einstellung zur EU. Europäische Integration. EU-Erweiterung. Nationale und europäische Identität und Staatsbürgerschaft. Inhalt: Beurteilung der Entwicklung der allgemeinen wirtschaftlichen Lage im Land im letzten Jahr; Politikinteresse; Demokratiezufriedenheit im eigenen Land; Personenvertrauen (Skalometer); Institutionenvertrauen (Skalometer: nationales Parlament, EU-Parlament, nationale Regierung, EU-Kommission, kommunale Verwaltung); politische Wirksamkeit (Efficacy); EU-Mitgliedschaft des eigenen Landes als gute Sache (Serbien und Türkei: EU-Beitritt des Landes als gute Sache); Vorteilhaftigkeit der EU-Mitgliedschaft für das eigene Land und für den Befragten; Europäer zu sein beeinflusst den Alltag; Verbundenheit mit dem Wohnort, der Region, dem Land und mit Europa; Identität als Landesbürger, Landesbürger und Europäer, Europäer und Landesbürger oder nur als Europäer; wichtigste Elemente zur Bildung einer nationalen Identität (Christ zu sein bzw. türkischer Muslim, nationale kulturelle Traditionen, Geburt im Land, Eltern mit der eigenen Nationalität, Respektieren nationaler Gesetze und Institutionen, Nationalgefühl, Kenntnisse der Landessprache, Wahrnehmen von Bürgerrechten); wichtigste Elemente zur Bildung einer europäischen Identität (Christ zu sein bzw. europäischer Muslim, europäische kulturelle Traditionen, Geburt in Europa, europäische Eltern, Respektieren von EU-Gesetzen und EU-Institutionen, sich als Europäer fühlen, Kenntnisse einer europäischen Sprache, Wahrnehmen von Bürgerrechten); Einstellung zu einer EU-Erweiterung; Teilnahme bei der Europawahl als Bürgerpflicht; persönlich empfundene Auswirkungen durch das Geschehen in Europa; Rezeptionshäufigkeit von Fernsehnachrichten und politischen Zeitungsberichten; Selbsteinstufung auf einem Links-rechts-Kontinuum; Meinung zur Europäischen Integration; Präferenz für eine europäische Armee oder Beibehalten der nationalen Armee; Vertrauen in ausgewählte Personengruppen (Menschen der eigenen Nationalität, Menschen in anderen europäischen Ländern sowie Men [...]

The book provides a systematic comparative and diachronic analysis of parliamentary elites recruitment in Europe. The main European countries are investigated for a period of approximately 150 years of democratic life thus providing an in depth empirical anlysis of the transformations of democratic representation

This book proposes to analyse, in a sample of European countries, the weight of technocracy in governments with the ambition of providing, in the first place, an accurate mapping of the phenomenon and, secondly, to explore some of the potential explanatory factors of its growing presence in Political Leadership. Our study concentrates its attention on Europe for three main reasons: First, this is the region of the world where party government has found its fullest development, but also where the party systems generated by the recent waves of democratization have been considered as substantially weaker. Secondly, Europe is the region where the parliamentary form of government is the most diffuse, but also where, in recent times, semi-presidential forms of governments have proliferated. Thirdly, Europe has seen with the EU, the development of a particularly strong form of multi-level governance. There are thus good reasons for an in-depth exploration of cabinet recruiting patterns in this area of the world.

Einstellung zur EU. Europäische Integration. EU-Erweiterung. Nationale und europäische Identität und Staatsbürgerschaft. Inhalt: Beurteilung der Entwicklung der allgemeinen wirtschaftlichen Lage im Land im letzten Jahr; Politikinteresse; Demokratiezufriedenheit im eigenen Land; Personenvertrauen (Skalometer); Institutionenvertrauen (Skalometer: nationales Parlament, EU-Parlament, nationale Regierung, EU-Kommission, kommunale Verwaltung); politische Wirksamkeit (Efficacy); EU-Mitgliedschaft des eigenen Landes als gute Sache Vorteilhaftigkeit der EU-Mitgliedschaft für das eigene Land und für den Befragten; Europäer zu sein beeinflusst den Alltag; Verbundenheit mit dem Wohnort, der Region, dem Land und mit Europa; Identität als Landesbürger, Landesbürger und Europäer, Europäer und Landesbürger oder nur als Europäer; wichtigste Elemente zur Bildung einer nationalen Identität (Christ zu sein, nationale kulturelle Traditionen, Geburt im Land, Eltern mit der eigenen Nationalität, Respektieren nationaler Gesetze und Institutionen, Nationalgefühl, Kenntnisse der Landessprache, Wahrnehmen von Bürgerrechten); wichtigste Elemente zur Bildung einer europäischen Identität (Christ zu sein, europäische kulturelle Traditionen, Geburt in Europa, europäische Eltern, Respektieren von EU-Gesetzen und EU-Institutionen, sich als Europäer fühlen, Kenntnisse einer europäischen Sprache, Wahrnehmen von Bürgerrechten); Einstellung zu einer EU-Erweiterung; Teilnahme bei der Europawahl als Bürgerpflicht; persönlich empfundene Auswirkungen durch das Geschehen in Europa; Rezeptionshäufigkeit von Fernsehnachrichten und politischen Zeitungsberichten; Selbsteinstufung auf einem Links-rechts-Kontinuum; Meinung zur Europäischen Integration; Präferenz für eine europäische Armee oder Beibehalten der nationalen Armee; Vertrauen in ausgewählte Personengruppen (Menschen der eigenen Nationalität, Menschen in anderen europäischen Ländern sowie Menschen außerhalb von Europa); Responsivität von Entscheidungsträgern in der EU und im eigenen Land (Skala); Dem [...]

Between 1991 and 1993 the Italian political system entered into a dramatic and to a great extent unexpected process of change. The new assertiveness of the judiciary in prosecuting corrupt practices in public life and the increasing independence of the electorate, shifting its support to new parties and rejecting through referendums some of the old rules of the game, are bringing into question the main features of the political regime that had ruled Italy since the Second World War. Parliamentary institutions are at the very center of this process of ...

When the crisis of a nondemocratic regime arises, and the transition to democracy starts unravelling, two main questions are at stake. The first is whether democracy will succeed, ie whether the instauration of democratic institutions is followed by consolidation of the new regime. 1 The second is what type of democracy will be adopted and what will be the peculiar features of the new political system. This means on the one hand what type of institutional framework—parliamentary versus presidential, majoritarian versus consensus ...

Political Institutions in Italy focuses on the most recent developments in Italian politics, particularly those of the last ten to fifteen years. A longer historical perspective, covering the post-war period, is also included, providing the reader with the tools for understanding this period of change. The book addresses a number of themes, paradoxes and problems inherent in Italian politics. The first theme concerns the shifting balance between the central administration and the periphery. The second theme concerns the divide between governing parties and ...

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Political Institutions in Italy focuses on the most recent developments in Italian politics, particularly those of the last 10-15 years. The authors address a number of themes, paradoxes, and problems inherent in Italian politics, the first being the shifting balance between the central administration and the periphery. The second theme concerns the divide between governing parties and permanent oppositions, and the third relates to the mix of political discontinuity and instability with a simultaneous stability of political parties. ...

... 3070. Numero: 2, aprile 2004, Indice. DOI: 10.1409/13291. Discussione su "Storia dell'idea d'Europa" di Federico Chabod Marcello Flores, Maurizio Cotta, Agostino Giovagnoli, Marcello Verga, Girolamo Imbruglia, pp. 287-312 ...

However important or even decisive their role in politics, political elites have to face crucial dilemmas and challenges. Three dilemmas—time, space and institutional environment—are, so to say, systemic, that is, they have to do with some basic dimensions of the organization of political life itself. A fourth dilemma, concerning the relationship between collective elites and individual leaders, should also be considered. First, this chapter explores how and through which instruments the crucial problem for any elite of persistence over time is faced. It discusses then how elites are confronted with different models (national, sub-national, supra-national, and international) of the territorial organization of political life. Third, it analyzes the relationship between elites and institutional forms of politics and, finally, the interactions between the collective dimension of political elites and individual figures such as leaders who may emerge both from within elites and outside o...